Iran: Stop Undermining Women's Rights

On International Women's
Rights Day, Iranian Activists to Open Campaign for Equality

(Beirut, March 7, 2010) - Iran should stop
infringing on women's rights and take immediate steps to meet Iranian women's
demands for full equality, Human Rights Watch said today. Iranian women's rights
activists have issued a call for freedom and gender equality in Iran in
connection with International Women's Rights Day on March 8.

Their campaign, Call for
Solidarity: Freedom and Gender Equality in Iran, seeks an end to state-led
violence and other forms of repression directed against both men and women. On
January 10, 2010, for example, more than 30 women were beaten at a weekly vigil
in Tehran. The women were seeking news of their sons and daughters who had been
detained during the protests following the June 2009 presidential elections.
This campaign calls on the authorities to immediately release all political
detainees, including many women's rights activists.

"This initiative of Iranian women's rights activists is crucial to the overall
struggle for democracy in Iran," said Nadya Khalife, women's rights researcher
for the Middle East and North Africa at Human Rights Watch. "It is also a
tribute to the strength of women, who continue to demand their rights and
support fellow citizens in the toughest of times."

For more than 30 years, the women's rights movement has been at the forefront in
the struggle for human rights and gender equality in Iran, Human Rights Watch
said. Iranian women have been subjected to a range of discriminatory laws and
practices, often under the guise of enforcing Islamic law.

Activists demanding women's rights - Tehran, June 2009

As an example, the Legal and Judicial Commission
of the Islamic Consultative Assembly of the Parliament is pressing for passage
of a Family Support Bill, including an amendment that would legalize polygamy.
Under the proposed measure, a husband could take a new wife if his wife is
diagnosed with a terminal illness, is away from home for six months, or even if
she is imprisoned for a bounced check.

"Iranian women have bravely sought over and over to end
gender-based discrimination, only to be met with threats, arrests, and
imprisonment of activists," Khalife said. "Human Rights Watch calls on the
Iranian government to allow women's rights groups to operate freely, without
harassment, or worse."